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Hi. I haven't been stamping for a while due to health. I'm better now and really want to dive in but when I sat down yesterday to get started I didn't even know where to start. I just sat there and looked through magazines. My question is when you sit down to make cards do you have a ritual or process you go through? Do you make multiple cards? Do you start with the stamp or paper combinations? Inspiration?
Hi Meschill, glad to hear your health is improved and that you're ready to dive back into the wonderful world of card making!
My inspiration for cardmaking comes from the occasion, recipient and/or stamps or other products that tickle my fancy. I do keep a stack of card bases cut and scored and a stack of panels ready to be stamped and colored. That way I'm ready when inspiration strikes.
I get sucked into magazines or Pinterest and lose all track of time and worse yet, available time to craft. I've been active on SCS for about two years and have found participating in the challenges is a marvelous inspiration. Check out this week's challenges on the Home page. And please, post your cards in the gallery. SCS members are supportive and oh so very welcoming! Looking forward to seeing your creations.
I also love to do challenges and find them helpful to get going. I think if you are really really in a rut, just make something --anything. It doesn't have to be good.
Usually after a little of that, you can get going and then feel better about creating. I like to keep a list of what I would like to try, and if I do card sketches I try to print them out.
I agree with others who experience too much looking online actually takes too much of your creative time away.
For me, I have a little ritual that goes like this:
Try and get most of my "chores" done first. Then my reward is to sit down and start working on a card.
I think of a theme, and who the card might be for if I need one for someone. If it's just a fun card then I often start with a technique I like, sponging, stamping & embossing or just find an image that I like and then stamp it, watercolor it or use my colored pencils or markers to make it pretty.
Then match the paper to the colors I chose, find some colors to layer if that's what Im' doing, put on some bling or glitter glue and it's done.
It might take 20 minutes or 2 hours for me to make a card but I try and finish it so I can move on to a new one. I guess that's yet another ritual???
__________________ We can't all be stars but we can all twinkle.
When I am stumped I find it helps me to limit my supplies.
Try putting two stamp sets in a box. Blindfold yourself or have someone else choose them if this helps. Make something with them. Use the same supplies for at least two cards or projects. Usually once an idea comes, it leads to others. A stamper called her version of this game Stamp Roulette.
Second Idea. Find ONE picture of a card you like. Don't spend more that 10 minutes to choose it. Take ANY element of the picture and use it to jump start your card. I do this often. Suppose there's a torn edge on the card or a sentiment on a strip at the bottom. Focus on ONE thing and your card will turn out looking not at all like the original picture.
Lastly, CASE. CASE yourself first. Choose a card you made and make another one like it using a different set. Or just CASE a few cards to get you started. Keep in mind, though -- limited supplies.
These are what I do when I'm "stuck". I hope to post again to share my frequently used routine. After I figure it out, lol!
I need a reason to make a card: birthday, holiday, etc. Then I sit down with my stamp inventory and select the stamps. From there, I start thinking about layout, technique and colors.
I rarely make cards "just because", but I'd like to start to see how creative I am without a specific time constraint or purpose. I will mostly likely, once again, start with the stamps (or dies) and design from there.
__________________ aka Sue. Or Sue-odd.
No blog for me. My gallery chronicles my card-making successes and mishaps.
Yes ... I'll stamp without a purpose ... if there isn't a reason available.
But I do like having a reason or need from time-to-time as well. As of yesterday afternoon, I "need" to make & send a great TY card. And I want it to be special, so when stampy time comes, I won't rush that one.
But I also like just making singles or duos to have 'stashed' .. and that's where challenge cards might come in. Challenges are really a way to think in a slightly different way ... particularly if you don't let a perceived 'deadline' get in your way. Deadlines might seem to be 'deadly' to creativity .. Gotta let those silly gremlins go. ;)
Bookmark a faved something in a magazine or catalog. When you're wondering where to start, peek at those bookmarks to see if you start thinking of an idea or path to take. Or do the same with your faves in the gallery. No stress allowed!
I tend to "clean" off my desk and put away things that did not get put away from the last time ( maybe large scraps maybe new purchases that got dumped...) I have not touched my desk in a few weeks so, the plan is. to go home and clean my table and see what jumps out at me.
( we have been remodeling since Dec. 1st. & I have Christmas presents that have not even been opened that are piled up among other things. :oops: )
I have a mental list going in my head of what kinds of cards I need to get made too.
Many thanks. I'm using all of you suggestions plus I decided to do some organizing in my studio and discovered things that I forgot I had. Now I'm really motivated to use these supplies.
I usually start with an occasion. I enjoy Pinterest and may go there for a layout or colour inspiration or I may have something already in mind and refer back to Pinterest for technique. I also use SCS card sketch challenge.. I find it very inspirational. Once I have the layout in my mind, I think of colour and stamp set or dies and just run from there. I get a lot of aha moments in my creative process and may veer in a different direction as to embellishments or punches or embossing folders. But for me the layout is usually the challenge and SCS Wed. card sketch is my go to place!
Starting with a lay out is good and I didn't know where to look. Thanks!!!
__________________ Meschill
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story." Psalm 107:1-2a
Hi. I haven't been stamping for a while due to health. I'm better now and really want to dive in but when I sat down yesterday to get started I didn't even know where to start. I just sat there and looked through magazines. My question is when you sit down to make cards do you have a ritual or process you go through? Do you make multiple cards? Do you start with the stamp or paper combinations? Inspiration?
I go online and get inspiration from Youtube (addict) and Pinterest. When I see a design I like that sparks me, I put my own spin on it and get busy or I'll print the image and save to an idea binder.
I either start with an occasion, even if it's just "thinking of you," or sometimes just play with supplies to see where it will go - like watercoloring a background, or heat embossing.
Last night I was working on some die organization and die cut two little dies because I hadn't cut them before and wondered how they were used (they were a kind of paper clip or attach to a paper clip). That play sometimes leads to something, or if nothing else I have some bits for something down the road.
I often start with a challenge or a product that is new or hasn't been used at all or recently. Sometimes I just try and decide what I'm in the mood for. Using some embellies? Water colouring? Marker colouring? Sponging? Mixed media? Stencilling? If I'm really stuck I'll look through cards I've saved from Pinterest or just colour an image without feeling the need to make it into a card. I've had one image of raspberries coloured for over 2 years and I just recently made it into a card for the Dirty Dozen Theme Food for Thought this month!
So just have fun without feeling the need to make something. Try to use your supplies in a new way or try a new technique. Doesn't matter if it works, just have fun. It's only paper!
if you look at the lists of forums you can search in this site, there is a section called "challenges" and there is at least one and sometimes more that are new each day... so, on Saturday there is one that is called "inspiration" and that one tends to have a link to go somewhere else and look at other things to be inspired by, so you are CASE-ing something but, its a very loose thing not as rigid as say a color combo or a sketch.
(you get to pick what you make and choose to be inspired by in the same site as everyone else) so, that is something else I do when I have time to play.
Occasion, then stamp set, the stamp sometimes dictates the colours, otherwise I usually choose colours last.
This is me, but I start with the stamp set or theme for the stamp. Then the occasions for the month and possibly a few extra to donate or swap. The color and the design come from how the first two things speak to me.
Ritual or proceds
